Best Cars of the 2018 LA Auto Show

Los Angeles is awash in hot new cars. The 2018 LA Auto Show brought forth a torrent of meaningful new vehicles at ground zero for car culture, automotive design, and trend-setting: Southern California. The LA show pushed all the hot buttons for cars heading into 2019: more SUVs and pickups, more models with hybrid powerplants, and enough high-end rides to entice the Golden State’s makers-not-takers. Even Tesla has a stand at the LA Civic Center; it has skipped most auto shows the past several years.

Here are our favorite dozen cars of the LA auto show. There are so many good cars, we didn’t have room for the new Porsche 911. Suffice it to say this 911 is faster, hugs the road better, and still costs a bunch, so we made it the top image. The 2018 LA Auto Show — also called AutoMobility, because of the concurrent conferences and alternative-energy-vehicle ride-and-drives of the first week, runs through Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Civic Center.

Fourteen years in the making, we finally get the Jeep Gladiator pickup truck. It’s a Jeep Wrangler with a five-foot pickup bed, hard or soft tops, the easy UConnect infotainment system, a Rubicon edition for serious off-roading, and six-cylinder gas or diesel engines, but not Wrangler’s turbo-four. Rated as a midsize pickup, it competes with the Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma, and the new Ford Ranger.

The 2019 Mazda3 will prove the sedan market isn’t dead. The stunning compact hatchback and mainstream-look sedan offer all-wheel drive and a choice worldwide of gasoline, mild-hybrid, diesel, and Skyactiv-X spark-or-compression-ignition gas engines. The US sees gas, maybe Skyactiv-X. The interior looks upscale, and a HUD is available. We’re hoping infotainment gets a much-needed refresh.

A decade after Mercedes launched the GL-series Bismarck-class SUV, BMW answers with the 2020 X7, a 203-inch-long, three-row sports/luxury SUV. The second row is spacious, the third row is adequate, and no passenger is more than 30 inches from a USB jack. With a six-cylinder turbo it’s $75,000. The available 456-hp V8 hits 60 mph in 5 seconds. Every driver assist known to mankind is offered. It ships March 2019.

The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE midsize SUV gets the E-Active Body Control suspension system. It uses four-corner air springs, leans into a turn, and helps get off-roaders unstuck from mud. The base GLE 350 now has four cylinders, not six, and costs $2,000 more, $57,000 base, in the comparable all-wheel-drive configuration. As befits its status, the instrument pane and center stack are 12.3-inch LCDs.

The Lincoln Aviator is the new, midsize Lincoln SUV, measuring 193 inches long and replacing (sort of) the 208-inch Lincoln MKT. It slots above the Lincoln Nautilus (nee MKX), and below the massive Navigator. Power comes from a 3.6-liter twin-turbo developing 400-plus hp, more with an underfloor battery pack making it a 450-hp plug-in hybrid. Lincoln says cockpit instrumentation has been made simpler to use.

Hyundai Palisade is the latest international automaker with an American-feel SUV – roomy, big-SUV styling in a midsize body – following the VW Atlas and Subaru Ascent. At 197 inches, it’s 3 inches longer and 4 inches wider than the Santa Fe XL. It seats eight. The 291 hp V6 will tow 5,000 pounds. The luxe interior suggests this could just as easily have been the long-anticipated Genesis. Look for it late spring.

How do you pronounce Tesla with a German accent? Try “Audi E-Tron GT.” It’s a swoopy four-seater with: 90-kWh battery, 248 miles (400 km) range, 590 hp, motors at both axles, and 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds. It uses inductive (wireless) or 800-volt DC charging with a 200-mile refill in 20 minutes. Expect it late 2020 with Audi’s industry-leading cockpit design and big LCDs.

“Kia added a little more soul to the Soul,” in the words of USA Today. The third-generation Soul has three variants of the subcompact crossover: an EV with a 64-kWh battery (a lot), range TBD. The GT-Line gets a sporty look and an optional 201-hp turbo four. The X-Line gets an off-roader look with chunky fenders and body cladding. The interior gets a much-needed upgrade. Look for it in the first half of 2019.

The 2019 Nissan Murano midsize SUV (photo) and Maxima sedan boost their safety offerings. Safety Shield 360, a six-pack of features including blind spot detection and lane departure warning, is standard on the top line (Platinum) and optional on the SL, as Nissan moves to make it standard on most cars by 2021. It’s also on the 2019 Rogue, Rogue Sport, and Altima, as part of the Nissan Intelligent Mobility project.

Honda removed 7 inches and the third-row seat from the back of the Honda Pilot, then gave it a rugged look and more ground clearance to create (resurrect) the 2019 Passport SUV. The 280-hp V6 has front- or all-wheel-drive configs. It’s just right for drivers who want bigger than a CR-V, but less bulk than the 197-inch Pilot. The Display Audio system has no buttons except a volume knob, which will be a turnoff.

The body of this 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid may be Lagoon Blue Pearl, but the important hue is the HOV Lane Red on the sticker that lets you ride solo on LA freeways. To the successful gas-engine Crosstrek, Subaru adds two motors: a starter/generator for the battery, and a second for hybrid/EV driving and for regenerative braking. It’s adapted from the masters: Toyota and the Prius Prime. EV range: 17 miles.

Ford finally has a midsize pickup truck back in the lineup, the Ford Ranger, resurrected after a seven-year exile. The base engine is a 2.3-liter turbo four with a 10-speed automatic, and a choice of four-seat SuperCab or five-seat SuperCrew cabins, plus a boatload of accessories. The base price is $25,395 with freight. With mainstream styling, the Ranger will do well against the Chevy Colorado and Honda Ridgeline.

The LA Show hits all the hot buttons for technology and emerging trends. The Kia Soul gets a new EV version and a ruggedized, off-roadsy edition. There are vehicles brought back to life: the Honda Passport, a midsize two-row SUV, not seen since 2001, and the Ford Ranger midsize SUV last offered in North America in 2002. It would be surprising if they don’t easily sell 100,000 units a year in their first full years. Mazda is making a strong effort to keep sedans alive with a sporty new Mazda3 compact sedan/hatchback. Hyundai has a big-looking midsize SUV ready to compete with Ford Explorer. The BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz GLE SUVs are just right for SoCal’s makers-not-takers. And virtually no automaker introduced a car with a smaller grille. We’ll have to see if they become cliches in a decade.

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